The Physical Disability Rugby League (PDRL) participation rates are continuing to rise in Yorkshire, especially at the Leeds Rhinos.
Leeds Rhinos Disability Manager, Edward Bates said, “If you consider the growth of the game in such a short period of time and the success of the first ever PDRL World Cup, you can see it has been a successful period for the sport.”
The PDRL continues to rise with the recent addition of Hull KR, York Knights and Bradford Bulls into the league, with more than eight Super League teams entered in the League, and the ambition is for this number to continue to rise.
Andrew Donnelly from the RFL said, “It’s a fact that participation rates are continuing to rise, player registrations are up year on year.”
“I think the PDRL has been a huge positive for Rugby League, its always been about inclusion, so its been a real positive for Rugby League to see the emergence of PDRL,” said Donnelly.
“A lot of the success is down to club foundations, as it is to the RFL itself,” said Donnelly.
As you can see in the graph above, the access to disability clubs is considerably different in Football compared to Rugby League.
Apart from Bradford City, Football clubs have a lot less to offer, whereas Rugby League, which is nowhere near as big as Football, provides a much better foundation for disabled people to participate in sport.
“There is an ambition from the people involved with PDRL for PDRL to grow even bigger than it currently is. It is unsure what this may look like, it may be Paralympics it may be something else, however the drive is certainly there from the PDRL community,” said Bates.
